The Museum illustrates the process of political unification of Italy, which took place in the nineteenth century. Previously, Italy had been divided into small states that, with the exception of Piedmont, were ruled or controlled by foreign powers.

The idea of founding a Museum dates back to 1878, but not until 1908 was it opened to the public. At first, it was placed inside the Mole Antonelliana, and in 1938 it was transferred to Palazzo Carignano, a magnificent baroque building designed by Guarino Guarini that had housed the Chamber of Deputies of the Piedmontese Parliament since 1848, and in 1861 had become the seat of the first Italian Parliament, whose temporary quarters were built in the courtyard.

The Museum extends for about 3,000 square metres and consists of 26 rooms. Exhibits are displayed in chronological order and cover a period spanning several decades before and after the Risorgimento itself. The original purpose was to explain the process of national unification by connecting it to more specifically Piedmontese events, so as to stress the leading role of Piedmont and the Savoy dynasty in the making of united Italy.

The narration proceeds from the 18th century through the first fifty years of the Kingdom of Italy, and includes references to the social turmoil and colonial expansion of the latter period. Ample space is devoted to World War I. A large gallery was opened in 1975 to commemorate the birth of trade unions, the early underground struggle against Fascism, the rise of Mussolini, and the Resistance, up to the end of World War II and the birth of Republican Italy.

As well as a wide array of exhibits (weapons, flags, uniforms, etc.), of printed and manuscript documents and paintings, the highlights of the Museum are the Chamber of Deputies of the Piedmontese (or Subalpine) Parliament, retaining its nineteenth-century appearance; the reconstruction with original furniture of the Oporto room where Carlo Alberto died in 1849; and Camillo Cavour’s cabinet study.

The Museum also holds rare pieces about Napoleonic period, the uprisings of 1821, Cavour's political and diplomatic work, and the life of Giuseppe Garibaldi.

A special feature of Turin’s Museum are several large paintings commissioned by the Royals to celebrate the great battles of the Risorgimento.The struggles for unification of other countries are also recorded, namely those of Hungary, Romania, and Poland.

The 19th-century wing, erected in the 1860's, houses the monumental hall built to accomodate the Italian Parliament and hardly used on account of the transfer of the capital to Florence from 1864 through 1870, when Rome was finally conquered.

The Museum has also a rich library, a print section and archives.